Zain replied while talking on the phone,

“Send the number to me. I’ll call him myself.”

“Okay, sir.”

Zain disconnected the call. His friend asked him,

“So, who was it? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, it was from work.”

“Your new job, it has really chewed you alive.”

“It is true.”

“So, what are you doing now? I mean are you going to leave for work now?”

“No, never,” Zain replied.

They both laughed for a few seconds.

That night, the superintendent officer who was still inside the police station got distracted as one of the police officers came inside and said,

“Sir!”

“Yes?”

“Sir, we have been given some information by the forensic lab.”

“Oh…Well, what is it?”

“We have been told that there are only Aaraiz’ footprints on the murder weapons, I meant handprints…”

“Oh, so only Aaraiz handprints are found? On that weapon…

I see.”

“Yes sir. But footprints of some footwear, some woman’s sandal prints were also present on the carpet.”

“Yes, those were Kiran’s I guess. Well, anyways, thanks for the update, it was very important. Now I know for sure that it was a mere suicide.”

“I agree!”

“You can leave for home now.”

“Okay sir.”

The police officer left.

*****************

Next afternoon, Zain was sleeping in his office. The superintendent officer came inside holding some heavy books. He threw the book on the desk creating a loud noise. Zain got terrified and woke up. The superintendent officer angrily asked,

“Is this what you do all day?”

“Sir,” Zain stood up as if

greeting him.

“Who are you? You are Police Inspector, there’s a huge responsibility on you. And you are sleeping like a snail?”

“Sorry sir.”

The superintendent walked towards him and as Zain moved backwards, he sat on his chair.

“Come here in front,” he said to Zain, “tell me what the current update is. Give me the complete update.”

“I have found Asad’s cell number. He is not answering the call, but we can go and meet him.”

“Meet him, how?”

“We have found some hotel’s bill. It has Asad’s name on it.”

“That is not enough. Anyways, keep on trying his number. Use different numbers and call him.”

“Okay, sir.”

“Now tell me what about Kiran and Mahnoor?”

The head constable came from behind and said,

“Mahnoor is on her way. She is coming.”

“Good,” the superintendent said.

Zain then said,

“I’ll call Kiran over.”

“Yes, do it quick,” he ordered. “And I don’t want to see you sleeping here again.”

“Got it sir.”

Zain left the office.

The superintendent officer then said to the head constable,

“I am going to revise the entire tale before you, you have to stop me if I skip anything.”

“The case of these three young adults?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“So, what happened here was that Aaraiz was in love with Kiran, but she refused to be in a relationship with him. Aaraiz got badly upset and became almost suicidal. Asad on the other hand was a guy with huge debt. He was somehow smart and charming which was why Kiran liked him and considered being in a relationship with him.”

“Right.”

“This got Aaraiz quite upset. He was now following Kiran everywhere he could. Kiran and Aaraiz on the other hand got in what looked like a serious committed relationship… But reality was probably something else. Kiran proposed Asad in a party and gifted him some car. Asad accepted the car hesitatingly and Aaraiz got brutally heartbroken in all of this.”

“Absolutely.”

“What happened further was that Aaraiz decided to commit suicide once and for all, but he did not want to do this all by himself. He wanted to do this in front of Kiran. Asad on the other hand discovered that Kiran had gifted him a car that was stolen. He got arrested and realised that it was some kind of entrapment by Kiran.”

“Exactly,” the head constable said.

“So, with the passage of few days, Aaraiz planned his suicide in a small house that he had purchased and texted Kiran. Kiran went to stop him and Asad followed her. Inside the house, Aaraiz did what he had to and Asad also got to witness this.”

“Yes, a suicide.”

“Okay, so this is it. I didn’t miss anything important, did I?”

“No, this is hopefully the entire theory. But this was generated by Zain.”

“I know.”

“No, sir you don’t know. I’m sorry but you don’t know this man Zain.”

“What do you mean by that?” the superintendent officer asked

“I mean to say that this man is more than just lethargic and an under performer.”

The superintendent officer gained some interest and listened carefully. The head constable continued,

“I know this new inspector from a few days, and I know one thing for sure. He is very hasty. He prefers jumping to conclusions very soon.”

“What? Really?”

“He is not a hard working person at all. He has no concept of analysing matters critically. He is very hasty and relies mostly on assumptions.”

“How can you say this? How do you know this for sure? You know him since a few days as you said so.”

“Okay, I might be wrong. But I can tell you one thing for sure…”

The superintendent got more impatient than ever.

The head constable was about to speak but a woman’s voice was heard. The two of them looked at the gate. Mahnoor was standing there.

“Oh, you’re here,” the head constable said.

The superintendent got disturbed and asked looking back at him,

“Go on, you were saying that one thing.”

“Mahnoor’s here,” he said looking at her.

“Oh,” The superintendent’s entire attention got diverted towards her and as he walked towards her, he asked “so, you know these three people?”

“Asad, Aaraiz and Kiran?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Yes, I know these three. I have been trying to contact the three of them but no one is answering. I’ve been told that Aaraiz has recently committed suicide. But that was quite inevitable.”

“Inevitable? I need your elaboration on this.”

“Elaboration? No, I meant that he was suicidal. He attempted suicide several times or may be a few times, but most of us knew that he would do it.”

“Can you give us the names of those people?”

“…Okay,” she said after thinking for a while.

“Was there any other reason behind? Besides his love for Kiran?”

“No, he was badly in love. He had warned her that he would do it.”

“No I’m asking was there any other reason behind. Is there a possibility that he committed suicide for some other reason besides the failure in love.”

“Oh, well, I can’t say that for sure.”

“If someone would tell you that he committed it for a reason other than Kiran, what would you assume?”

“Well, I would assume that he was mentally unstable. Anything can be expected from such a person.”

The police constable came in front of her and asked her,

“Kiran…How is she responding to this?”

“Responding to what? Aaraiz’ suicide?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I haven’t talked to her as yet.”

“Not since the suicide?” the superintendent officer asked.

“Yes, I haven’t seen her since then. Neither have I talked to her.”

“Can we see your phone please? It is a part of the police investigation.”

She disliked it and did not respond initially. She however asked,

“Why would you want to see it?”

“You’ll know. But first let us see it.”

“I would like to know first.”

The two officers appeared quite angry. Mahnoor showed them the phone after unlocking it. The head constable took it from her and checked the call logs.

“If you are not a culprit,” the superintendent said to her, “you should not be hesitating anything.”

The head constable chuckled with loud voice for a moment and then said,

“Is this what you just told us?”

“What is it?” the superintendent asked him.

“I am surprised. I mean, I wasn’t expecting this from her. She called Kiran herself, and not quite a long time ago, just thirty minutes ago.”

The superintendent got angry on her and said after standing up,

“Take her inside. Deal gently with her. I’ll make sure that she tells us the truth.”

The head constable waved to a female police officer and talked to the superintendent,

“Where are you going?”

“I am following Zain. I need to see how accurate your words were about him.”

“Okay.”

“By the way…”

“Sir, I have nothing to do with Aaraiz’ death,” Mahnoor interrupted raising her voice.

“Quite,” the superintendent said to her and then asked the head constable, “tell me before she came here, you were about to say something, something important what was it.”

“I don’t remember exactly.”

“You were saying you are sure about one thing about Zain.”

“Oh yeah, I was saying that I know for sure that what we have been told through his theory is hardly the truth.”

“What do you mean? Wait, please clear this.”

“I’m saying that the major part of his theory is based on assumptions and most of them must be designed through his hastiness.”

“Oh, my God! Don’t you think that’s quite a big claim?”

“Like you know sir, Zain is a lazy person. He wants to get on with matters without considering all the aspects in different angles.”

The superintendent officer got kind of upset and after a few seconds, he asked,

“So, what should we do about it?”

“I would suggest that we should bring all the characters in one place. We have to coerce them somehow.”

“All characters, Kiran, Mahnoor and Asad?”

“Mainly these three but also others associated to this matter. The guy who sold the gun, illegally, what about him?”

“There are others as well like him. Also, the cops who arrested Asad for that car.”

“Yeah,” the head constable answered getting something in his mind, “and one more thing that I keep forgetting all the time. That event, where Aaraiz almost hit Asad through his car.”

“Yes, when Kiran was there too.”

“Right…Let me tell you something about it. The first day when I was with Zain, the two of us were standing outside the police station. We were having a friendly chat. But do you know what happened at some distance?”

“What?” he asked curiously.

“The same scene. The car scene. A young driver nearly hit someone. And then a woman came running towards the guy who had fallen backwards.”

“Oh dear, but wait, who were those people?”

“Nobody knows them. They were total strangers. But I’m saying that I’m assuming Zain made up that part in his theory getting inspired by that scene.”

“Oh, dear lord!”

“I’m telling you, we cannot rely on him.”

“I should have known that. Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

They got distracted as they heard Mahnoor screaming,

“Please, let me go. I have nothing to do with it.”

The superintendent officer looked at her and then said to the head constable,

“This coward girl can tell us plenty of stuff. I’ll deal with her myself.”

The head constable nodded and then left the office.

*****************

Next morning, Zain and the head constable were in their office. They were having a conversation until they heard the superintendent coming inside. The two of them stood up. The superintendent officer waved to the head constable and said,

“Come here with me for a moment. I need to talk to you.”

The head constable and the superintendent went to another room. The superintendent said to him,

“I have discovered plenty of stuff from that girl Mahnoor. I have released her but she has revealed quite a lot.”

“Oh…So, what is the reality? I’ll tell that in front of everyone, but right now I must discharge Zain from this task. He is simply distracting us.”

“Okay, you do whatever you think is necessary.”

That moment, the head constable’s phone began to ring. He took it out. The superintendent said to him,

“No problem, go and

attend it.”

“It is an unknown number. Okay, I’ll see who it is.”

The superintendent officer went back to where Zain was seated and said politely,

“Look kid, you are new. You need to work harder.”

“Sure,” Zain answered looking up at him.

After a few minutes, the head constable came. He appeared more shocked than ever. The superintendent asked him,

“Who was it?”

“You won’t believe it,” he replied in a state of shock.

Zain wasn’t concerned about anything. He didn’t actually care about this case.

What was the reality of the suicide case? Who knew?

to be continued...